Human Eye Resolution VR is a treat if you know where to look



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Photo: Alex Cranz (Gizmodo)

Virtual reality is still in its infancy. It's at the television stage before the color, or computers before they become personal. It's easy to forget that because there are a lot of helmets (and cardboards). But the Varjo VR-1, an elegant headset for professionals who are developing the content you'll use one day, is a great reminder that we're still in the early days of this technology. This is one of the first virtual reality headsets to provide the extremely high pixel count per inch that your eye can appreciate.

Varjo is a Finnish start-up that produces the best VR helmets available. Initially, the plan was to create a VR headset with a camera so that it could also work as an AR headset. Varjo plans to launch a module for the VR-1, which will do so later this year. However, when Varjo began presenting his technologies to potential customers in the corporate sector, he said he found that these clients, for the moment, wanted higher resolution, not RAs. Thus, Varjo has created a virtual reality headset with a "human eye resolution", which is an elegant way of saying that the pixels of the display are so small and dense that they are invisible to the eye human.

VR headsets are only a screen with magnifiers on them. Installed on your head and properly focused, a headset gives you the perception of 3D space, but because of its magnification factor, it also highlights each pixel of the display, much like if you stood nose to your TV. Varjo reduces the effect by using a hybrid "Bionic" display. The external display is identical to that of the HTC Vive Pro: an AMOLED with a resolution of 1440 x 1600 per eye.

The helmet and its box. The cables connect to the box, which connects to the computer via two USB-C cables.

The other end of the box. It is powered by two USB-C cables.

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It's extremely high, but it's nothing compared to the central screen of 1,920 x 1,080 microLED with a claim of 3,000 pixels per inch, which, according to the company, is the same as found in the viewfinder high-end cameras from companies like Sony. Although the individual pixels do not disappear completely, they are smaller than those of all the headphones that I have tried before. The result is a breathtaking window to the future of virtual reality. The distraction of the giant pixels disappeared, VR content seems more realistic. There are no irregular edges or fuzzy text. Everything is clear and clear, like a video game played on a high-end 4K TV.

In addition to extremely high pixel counts, the binary display of the Varjo VR-1 has number of pixels per degree of 60, which is the purpose of the "resolution of the human eye". The PPD of a screen is a number intended to take into account the viewing distance when it examines the pixel density of a screen. It is calculated with the following formula: Tanning 2dr (0.5 °). re is the distance of observation, and r is the resolution of the display (calculators are available if you prefer to ignore the calculations). An iPhone XS, viewed at a distance of 10 inches, has a PPD of 82.6, while a 4K TV seen from four feet has a PPD of 55.7 but a PPD of 67.5 when it is not. he is seen five feet away.

Photo: Alex Cranz (Gizmodo)

A human eye with a 20/20 vision should be unable to determine pixels with a PPD of 60 or higher. Thus, the VR-1's 60 PPD should mean virtually invisible pixels, which means no unpleasant reminder that you're wearing screens attached within inches of your eyes.

In practice, I did not find the VR-1 as magical as that, the lower PPI of the outdoor display was awkward, and in more than one demonstration, there was a clear difference in the way the two displays dealt with the content. A representative of Varjo said that this was due to the lower resolution content source, intended for HTC Vive Pro or a lower resolution screen. As a result, the sophisticated central display with its high PPI revealed flaws in programming. In a car demo, the reflections looked fundamentally different on both screens, while in a flight simulator, the stars appeared normal on the outside screen, but disappeared on the central screen of higher resolution.

Only in a Unity demo did things unfailingly unfold. Unity supports higher resolutions. As a result, the stars and reflections are identical across both screens.

The screenshots below provide Varjo with the same content on the Varjo VR-1 headset and a Vive Pro. This is a good example of the difference between the two VR-1 screens.

Yeah, the difference is that it's sometimes very hard.

But I did not care about the difference, and it makes perfect sense to consider the customers that Varjo is meant for: designers, engineers, and producers of VR content. This is a reference display intended to provide the best image possible at the moment. Thus, it is not necessary to reconfigure the content manually to obtain higher resolution displays. Having the best of what is currently popular in a consumer headset (the HTC Vive Pro) and the best of what is professionally possible means that a content producer only has to watch from side to see what his audience will see, then look straight ahead and conceive. what they want to their audience to finally see.

A bit like how video editors will put a big 4K TV on the wall to see what the content will look like for the rest of us, but have $ 30,000 reference post in front of them to see the content as they want to it would be.

And, considering this, the price tag of the Varjo VR-1 seems slightly less astronomical. According to Varjo, the VR-1 will cost $ 5,995, or nearly $ 6,000, with an additional annual license of $ 995. A representative of the company pointed out, after my eyes have escaped, that the VR-1 is not meant for you or me. It is intended for professionals who design everything you use. This is the reference monitor, not the 4K TV.

But it's still interesting because it means that technology can really improve. One day, when prices fall, we might have had such a beautiful helmet voice that we can afford, and after an hour with the VR-1, I can safely say I'm excited about 'idea. A good display makes all the difference in virtual reality.

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